It sounds whimsical but the headline of this article helped me gain a new perspective on Wikileaks. I probably shouldn’t see them as this supposed holier than thou and perfect organization which fails miserably at being just that (especially in the wake of the Collateral Murder video).
They are just something like a news organization, with their own biases, their own screw ups (which should be criticized), but they still provide a valuable service to society. The headline helped me come to terms with my ultimately unrealistic expectations of Wikileaks.
I came to the some conclusion after the Collateral Murder video - WikiLeaks is a news organization, which gathers, curate, and sometimes editorialize their content. The only difference is that Internet allows them to be outside the jurisdiction of any concrete state. But they have their own bias and their own agenda, just like any other media.
As you said, they provide valuable service to society, but we still need to watch them closely like any other organization. Anyway, what they do I think is positive and it blazes a trail for others. I am now looking forward for WikiLeaks competitor. ;-)
They are just something like a news organization, with their own biases, their own screw ups (which should be criticized), but they still provide a valuable service to society. The headline helped me come to terms with my ultimately unrealistic expectations of Wikileaks.